German 1st Army

The German 1st Army was a field army of the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany that was active from 1939 to 1945. The army was activated on 26 August 1939, with Erwin von Witzleben in command. The army was stationed on the border with France at the start of World War II, and it participated in the final breach of the Maginot Line defenses during the Battle of France in 1940. From 1940 to mid-1944, the army protected the Atlantic coast of France from a possible seaborne incursion, and it reorganized in Lorraine in August 1944 after retreating across France during the Western Allies' advance. The army attempted to prevent the US Third Army from crossing the Moselle and capturing Metz while also attempting to hold the northern Vosges mountains from the US Seventh Army. In November 1944, the army withdrew into the Saarland, and it attacked the US Army in January 1945 during Operation Nordwind. The failure of the offensive forced the 1st Army to retreat to the Siegfried Line and then across the Rhine River. On 6 May 1945, the 1st Army surrendered to the Allies near the Alps.